A  STATESMAN’S  VIEW 
OF  CHRISTIAN  WORK 
ABROAD 


BY  THE  honorable  WIELIAM  H.  TAFT 


An  Address  delivered  in  Carnegie  Hall,  New  York, 
Monday  evenhig,  April  20th,  igoS,  at  a  meeting  of 
the  Laymen's  Missionary  Movement,  Stenographically 
reported,  but  not  revised  by  the  author 


A  Statesman’s  View 
of  Christian  Work 
Abroad 

BY  THE  honorable 
WILLIAM  H.  TAFT 


'I'  HAVE  known  a  good  many  people 
I  who  were  opposed  to  foreign  mis- 
I  sions.  It  has  been  the  custom  in 
literature,  sometimes,  to  make  fun 
of  them.  You  remember  when  Sam 
Weller  came  home  to  see  his  father, 
Tony,  and  the  widow  whom  Tony  had 
married,  the  widow  and  the  Rev.  Stig- 
gins  framed  an  indictment  against  Tony 
on  the  ground  that  he  would  not  con¬ 
tribute  any  money  to  pay  for  flannel 
waistcoats  and  colored  x>ocket  handker¬ 
chiefs  for  little  infants  in  the  West  In¬ 
dies.  He  said  they  were  little  humbugs 
and  he  said,  moreover,  in  an  undertone 
to  Sam,  that  he  would  come  down  pretty 
handsome  for  some  ^^straight  vestkits” 
for  some  people  at  home.  I  confess  that 

2 


there  was  a  time  wlien  I  was  enjoying  a 
smug  provincialism,  that  I  hope  has  left 
me  now,  when  I  rather  sympathized  with 
that  view.  Until  I  went  to  the  Orient, 
until  there  were  thrown  on  me  respon¬ 
sibilities  with  reference  to  the  extension 
of  civilization  in  those  far  distant  lands, 
I  did  not  realize  the  immense  impor¬ 
tance  of  foreign  missions.  The  truth  is, 
we  have  got  to  wake  up  in  this  coun¬ 
try.  We  are  not  all  there  is  in  the 
world.  There  are  lots  of  people  besides 
us  who  are  entitled  to  our  effort  and  our 
money  and  our  sacrifice  to  help  them  on 
in  the  world. 

Christianity  the  Basis  of 
Modern  Civilization 

No  man  can  study  the  movement  of 
modern  civilization  from  a\2  impartial 
standpoint  and  not  realize  that  Christi¬ 
anity  and  the  spirit  of  Christianity  are 
the  only  basis  for  the  hope  of  modern 
civilization  and  the  growth  of  poimlar 
self-government.  The  spirit  of  Christi¬ 
anity  is  pure  democracy.  It  is  the 
equality  of  man  before  God,  the  equality 
of  man  before  the  law  which  is,  as  I 
understand  it,  the  most  Godlike  mani¬ 
festation  that  man  has  been  able  to 
make.  I  am  not  here  to-night  to  speak 

3 


of  foreign  missions  from  a  purely  relig¬ 
ious  standpoint.  Tliat  ihas  been  done. 
I  am  here  to  speak  of  missions  from 
the  standpoint  of  political,  governmental 
advancement,  Idie  advancement  of 
modern  civilization.  And  I  think  I 
have  had  some  opportunity  to  know  how 
dependent  we  are  on  the  spread  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  in  any  hope  that  we  may  have  of 
uplifting  the  i)eoples  whom  [Providence 
has  thrust  upon  us  for  our  guidance. 

Tlie  Great  Contribution  of  the 
Early  Roman  Missionaries 
in  the  Philippines 

In  the  Philippines,  in  1565  to  1571 
there  were  five  Augustinian  friars  who 
came  out  by  direction  of  Philip  II., 
charged  with  the  duty,  under  Legaspi, 
of  Christianizing  those  islands.  They 
reached  there  just  at  the  time  when  the 
Mohammedans  were  thinking  of  coming 
into  the  same  place,  and  these  friars 
spread  Christianity  through  the  islands 
with  no  violence,  but  in  the  true  spirit 
of  Christian  missionaries.  They  taught 
the  natives  agriculture,  they  taught 
them  peace  and  the  arts  of  peace.  And 
BO  it  came  about  that  the  only  people 
as  a  body,  who  are  Christians,  in  the 
whole  Orient,  are  the  Filipino  people  of 

4 


the  Christian  provinces  of  the  Philip¬ 
pines,  7,000,000  souls.  I  dwell  upon 
this,  because  it  is  the  basis  of  the  whole 
hope  of  success  that  we  have  in  our  prob¬ 
lem  in  those  islands.  It  is  true  that 
these  people  were  not  developed  beyond 
the  point  of  Christian  tutelage.  Those 
old  missionaries  felt  that  it  was  not  wise 
to  expose  these  people  to  the  tempta¬ 
tions  of  the  knowledge  which  European 
Christians  had,  and  so  they  were  kept 
in  a  state  of  ignorance,  but,  neverthe¬ 
less,  they  were  Christians,  and  for  300 
years  have  been  under  that  influence. 
And  now,  in  this  condition  of  Christian 
tutelage,  their  ideals  are  western,  their 
ideals  are  Christian,  and  they  under¬ 
stand  us  when  we  attempt  to  unfold  to 
them  the  theories  and  doctrines  of  self- 
government,  of  democracy.  Because 
they  are  Christians  they  are  fit  material 
to  make,  in  two  or  three  genera-tions,  a 
self-governing  people.  We  have  the  op¬ 
portunity  to  know,  because  we  hav'e  a 
million  non- Christians  there.  We  have 
4,000,000  Mohammedans  i  they  don^t  un¬ 
derstand  republican  gojemmex't;  they 
don’t  understand  populai  government. 
They  welcome  a  despotism.  And  they 
never  will  understand  a  beneficent  gov¬ 
ernment  until  they  have  been  converted 
to  Christianity. 


5 


The  Constitution  and  National 
Altruism 

It  is  my  conviction  tliat  our  nation  is 
just  as  much  charged  with  the  obliga¬ 
tion  to  help  the  unfortunate  peoples  of 
other  countries  that  are  thrust  upon  us 
by  fate  until  they  are  fit  to  become  self- 
governing  people,  as  it  is  the  business 
of  the  wealthy  and  fortunate  in  the  com¬ 
munity  to  help  the  infirm  and  the  unfor¬ 
tunate  of  that  community.  I  know  it 
is  said  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  Con¬ 
stitution  of  the  United  States  that  au¬ 
thorizes  national  altruism  of  that  sort. 
Well,  of  course  there  is  not.  But  there 
is  nothing  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  that  forbids  it.  What 
there  is  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  is  a  breathing  spirit  that 
we  are  a  nation  with  all  the  responsibili¬ 
ties  and  power  that  any  nation  ever  had, 
and  therefore  when  it  becomes  the  Chris¬ 
tian  duty  of  a  nation  to  assist  another 
nation,  the  Constitution  authorizes  it, 
because  it  is  part  of  its  being.  We  went 
into  the  Cuban  War  not  for  conquest. 
We  went  there  because  we  thought  there 
was  an  international  scandal  that  ought 
to  be  ended,  and  that  we  had  some  re¬ 
sponsibility  with  respect  to  that  scandal, 
if  we  could  end  it  and  did  not  do  it. 

6 


The  Hope  of  the  Philippines 

I  ihave  been  at  tlie  bead  of  tbe  Pbilip- 
pine  Government,  and  I  know  what  i 
am  talking  about  when  I  say  that  the 
hope  of  these  islands  depends  upon  the 
development  of  the  power  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Churches  already  there.  One  of  the 
most  discouraging  things  to-day  is  not 
the  helpless,  but  the  poverty-stricken 
condition  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
which  has  the  largest  congregations  in 
those  islands.  'Every  man,  be  he  Prot¬ 
estant  or  Roman  Catholic,  must  in  his 
heart  hope  for  the  prosperity  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  in  those  isl¬ 
ands,  in  order  that  it  may  do  the  work 
that  it  ought  to  do  in  uplifting  the  peo¬ 
ple.  So,  too,  with  reference  to  the  Prot¬ 
estant  missions  in  the  islands.  They 
are  doing  a  grand  and  noble  work. 
And  it  is  the  influence  of  the  Churches 
upon  a  people  as  ignorant  as  they 
are  that  holds  up  the  hands  of  the 
civil  governor,  charged  as  he  is  with  the 
responsibility  of  maintaining  peace  and 
order,  of  inducing  the  people  to  educate 
their  children  and  to  go  on  upward  to¬ 
ward  self-government.  I  am  talking 
practical  facts,  about  the  effect  of  relig¬ 
ion  on  the  political  government,  and  I 
know  what  I  am  talking  about. 

7 


The  Mission  a  Nucleus  of 
Modern  Oivillzation 

Until  I  went  into  the  Orient  I  did  not 
realize  the  variety  of  things  that  foreign 
missions  accomplish.  Connected  with 
every  successful  foreign  mission  is  a 
school,  often  an  industrial  school.  In 
connection  with  every  good  foreign  mis¬ 
sion  there  are  hospitals  and  doctors. 
Therefore  the  mission  makes  a  nucleus 
of  modem  civilization,  with  schools, 
teachers  and  physicians,  as  well  as  the 
church.  In  that  way,  having  educated 
the  native,  having  taught  him  how  to 
live,  they  are  able  to  'he  sure  that  they 
have  made  him  a  consistent  Christian. 

Of  course  people  say  there  are  a  great 
many  rice- Christians  in  China.  Doubt¬ 
less  there  are.  The  Ohit^ese  do  not  differ- 
from  other  people.  And  some  are  quite 
willing  to  admit  a  conversion  they  don’t 
have,  in  order  thot  they  may  fill  their 
stomachs.  But  that  does  not  affect  the 
real  fact,  which  is,  that  every  foreign 
mission  in  China  is  a  nucleus  for  the 
advance  of  modem  civilization.  China 
is  in  a  state  of  transition.  China  is 
looking  forward  to  progress.  China  is 
to  be  guided  by  whom?  She  is  to  he 
guided  by  the  young  Christian  students 
and  scholars  that  either  learn  English  or 

8 


some  foreign  language  at  home  or  are 
sent  abroad  to  be  instructed,  and  who 
come  back  and  whose  words  are  listened 
to  by  those  who  exercise  influence  at 
the  head  of  the  Government.  Therefore 
it  is  that  these  frontier  posts  of  civiliza¬ 
tion  are  so  much  more  important  than 
the  mere  numerical  count  of  those  who  are 
converted  or  those  who  yield  allegiance 
to  the  mission  seems  to  make  them. 
And  I  speak  from  the  standpoint  of,  as  I 
say,  political  civilization  in  such  a  coun¬ 
try  as  Ghina. 

Missionaries  and  their  Critics 

Two  or  three  things  make  one  impa¬ 
tient  when  he  understands  the  facts. 
One  is  this  criticism  of  the  missionaries 
as  constantly  involving  governments  in 
trouble,  as  constantly  bringing  about 
war.  The  truth  is,  that  trade  is  pressing 
into  the  Orient  and  the  agents  that  are 
sent  forward,  I  an  sorry  to  say,  are  not 
the  best  representatives  of  western  civ¬ 
ilization.  The  Americans  and  English¬ 
men  and  others  who  live  in  the  Orient 
are,  many  of  them,  excellent,  honest. 
God-fearing  men,  but  there  are  in  that 
set  of  advance  agents  of  western  civili¬ 
zation  gentlemen  who  left  the  West  for 
the  good  of  the  West,  and  because  their 

9 


■history  in  the  West  might  prove  embar¬ 
rassing  at  home.  More  than  that,  even 
where  they  are  honest,  hard-working 
tradesmen  and  merchants,  attempting  to 
push  business  into  the  Orient,  their 
minds  are  constantly  on  business.  It  is 
not  human  nature  that  they  should  re¬ 
sist  the  temptations  that  not  infrequent¬ 
ly  present  themselves  to  get  ahead  of  the 
Oriental  brother  in  business  trans¬ 
actions.  They  generally  are  quite  out 
of  sympathy  with  a  spirit  of  brotherhood 
toward  the  Orientals.  Even  in  the 
Philippines  that  spirit  is  shown.  Eor 
I  remember  hearing  this  sentiment  sung 
on  the  streets  of  Manila  by  a  gentleman 
who  did  not  agree  with  my  view  of  what 
we  ought  to  do  toward  the  Filipinos: 

“He  may  be  a  brother  of  William  H. 

Taft, 

But  he  ain’t  no  brother  of  mine.” 

That  is  the  spirit  that  we  are  too  likely 
to  find  among  the  gentlemen  who  go 
into  the  East  for  the  mere  purpose  of 
extending  trade. 

Then,  I  am  bound  to  say  that  the  re¬ 
straints  of  public  opinion,  of  a  fear  of 
the  criticism  of  one’s  neighbors  that  one 
finds  at  home,  to  keep  men  in  the 
straight  and  narrow  path,  are  loosened  in 
the  Orient.  We  find  that  many  men  are 
not  the  models  that  they  ought  to  be 

10 


in  probity  .and  morality.  .They  look  upoiL 
the  native  as  inferior,  and  they  are  too 
likely  to  treat  him  with  contumely  and 
insult.  It  is  through  the  foreign  mis¬ 
sions  that  we  must  expect  to  have  the 
true  picture  of  Christian  brotherhood 
presented  to  those  natives,  the  true  spirit 
of  Christian  sympathy.  That  is  what 
makes,  in  the  progress  of  civilization,  the 
immense  importance  of  Christian  mis¬ 
sions. 

Go  into  China  to-day  and  try  to  find 
out  what  the  conditions  are  in  the  in¬ 
terior.  Consult  in  Pekin  the  gentlemen 
who  are  supposed  to  know,  and  where  do 
they  go?  They  go  at  once  to  the  mis¬ 
sionaries,  to  the  men  who  have  spent 
their  lives  far  advanced  into  the  nation, 
far  beyond  the  point  of  safety  if  any 
uprising  takes  place,  and  who  have 
learned  by  association  with  the  natives, 
by  living  with  them,  by  bringing  them 
into  their  houses,  by  helping  them  on 
to  their  feet,  what  the  secret  of  Chinese 
life  is.  And  therefore  it  is  that  the  only 
reliable  books  that  you  can  read,  telling 
you  the  exact  condition  of  Chinese  civ¬ 
ilization,  are  written  by  these  same  for¬ 
eign  missionaries  who  have  been  so 
much  blamed  for  involving  us  in  foreign 
wars. 

It  is  said  that  the  Boxer  war  was  due 

11 


to  the  interference  of  the  missionaries, 
and  the  feeling  of  the  Chinese  against 
the  Christian  religion  as  manifested  and 
exemplified  by  the  missionaries.  That  is 
not  true.  It  is  true  that  the  first  out¬ 
break  was  against  the  missionaries,  be¬ 
cause  the  outbreak  was  against  foreign 
interference,  and  it  was  easiest  to  attack 
those  men  who  had  gone  furthest  into 
the  interior.  But  that  which  really 
roused  the  opposition  of  the  Chinese  was 
the  feeling  that  all  the  Christian  na¬ 
tions  were  sitting  around  waiting  to 
divide  up  the  Middle  Kingdom,  and  wait¬ 
ing  to  get  a  piece  of  the  pork.  That  is 
the  feeling  that  the  C-^inese  have;  and 
I  am  not  prepared  to  say  that  there  was 
not  some  ground  for  the  suspicion. 

The  United  States  and  China 

By  doing  what  was  a  clean,  honest 
thing  to  do,  but  which  as  between  na¬ 
tions  seems  to  be  a  little  more  excep¬ 
tional  perhaps,  than  between  i^rdividuals, 
by  agreeing  to  return  the  money  that  we 
really  ought  not  to  have  taken,  as  the 
Boxer  indemnity,  by  the  influence  of  our 
foreign  missions  there,  and  by  the  be¬ 
lief  in  China  that  we  are  not  there  for 
our  own  exploitation,  or  to  appropriate 
jurisdiction,  territorial  or  otherwise,  I 

12 


think  we  stand  well  in  China  to-day.  I 
think  we  stand  in  such  a  position  that 
such  a  movement  as  the  laymen  have 
now  undertaken,  to  raise  money  to  in¬ 
crease  the  number  of  missionaries  and 
the  number  of  nuclei  of  Christianity  and 
of  civilization  in  that  teeming  popula¬ 
tion  of  450,000,000,  has  a  better  prospect 
to-day  than  it  ever  had  before.  There¬ 
fore  such  a  movement  as  this  must  enlist 
the  sympathy  and  the  aid  of  all  who 
understand  the  great  good  that  the  seK- 
denying  men  wh^  go  so  far  to  accom¬ 
plish  their  good  are  doing. 

The  Missionary  Life  Exacting 

You  can  read  books — have  read 
them — in  which  the  missions  are  de¬ 
scribed  as  most  comfortable  buildings; 
and  it  is  said  that  the  missionaries  are 
living  much  more  luxuriously  than  they 
would  at  home;  and  therefore  that  they 
have  no  claim  upon  our  support  or  sym¬ 
pathy.  It  is  true  that  there  are  a  good 
many  mission  buildings  that  are  hand¬ 
some  buildings;  I  have  seen  them.  It 
is  true  that  they  are  comfortable;  but 
they  ought  to  be  comfortable.  One  of 
the  things  that  you  have  got  to  do  with 
the  Oriental  is  to  fill  his  eye  with  some¬ 
thing  that  he  can  see;  and  if  you  erect 
a  great  missionary  building  he  deems 

13 


your  coming  into  that  community  of 
some  importance.  The  missionary  so¬ 
cieties  that  are  doing  that,  and  are 
building  suitable  homes  for  the  mission¬ 
aries,  are  following  a  very  much  more 
sensible  course  than  is  the  United 
States  in  denying  to  its  ambassadors  and 
other  representatives  suitable  dwellings. 

The  life  of  a  missionary  is  not  a  life  of 
ease;  it  is  not  a  life  of  comfort  and 
luxury.  I  do  not  know  how  many  have 
felt  that  thing  that  the  physicians  call 
nostalgia.  I  do  not  know  whetheryou  have 
experienced  that  sense  of  distance  from 
home,  that  being  surrounded  by  an  alien 
people,  that  impression  that  you  would 
give  almost  anything  if  you  could  only 
have  two  hours  of  association  with  your 
old  friends  at  home,  if  you  could  only 
get  into  the  street-cav  and  sit  down, 
or  hang  by  a  strap.  I  tell  you,  when  you 
come  back  after  an  absence  of  five  or  ten 
years,  even  the  strap  seems  a  dear  old 
memory. 

The  Conclusion  of  the  Whole 
Matter 

These  men  are  doing  grand,  good 
work.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  there 
are  not  exceptions  among  them;  that 
sometimes  they  do  not  make  mistakes, 

14 


Chat  sometimes  they  do  not  meddle  in 
something  which  it  would  be  better  for 
them  from  a  politic  motive  to  keep  out 
of ;  but  I  mean  as  a  whole  these  3,000 
missionaries  in  China,  and  those  in  other 
countries,  worthily  represent  the  best 
Christian  spirit  of  this  country,  and 
worthily  are  doing  the  work  that  you 
have  sent  them  out  to  do. 

I  thank  you  for  the  opportunity  of 
speaking  on  behalf  of  this  body  of 
Christian  men  and  women  who  are  doing 
a  work  which  is  indispensable  to  the 
spirit  of  Christian  civilization.- 


COPIES  of  this  leaflet  may  be 
obtained  from  The  Corre¬ 
sponding  Secretary^  281 
Fourth  Avenue,  New  York,  by 
asking  for  Leaflet  No.  1101. 

T[  Information  concerning  the 
Laymen’s  Missionary  Movement 
may  be  obtained  from  the  same 
address. 

^  All  offerings  for  missions 
should  be  sent  to  Mr.  George 
C.  Thomas^  Treasurer,  Church 
Missions  House,  281  Fourth 
Avenue,  New  York. 


February,  1909.  23d  M. 


